outer spacen.
/ˌaʊtə ˈspeɪs/, U.S. /ˌaʊdər ˈspeɪs/ 1. The region of space beyond the earth's atmosphere or beyond the solar system. In extended use: a place or region beyond the usual limits of awareness or accessibility.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the universe > space > [noun] > beyond solar system
outer space1842
deep space1952
1842 E. S. Wortley Maiden of Moscow i. 410 All Earth in madness moved,—o'erthrown, To outer space—driven—racked—undone!
1855 S. H. Hammond & L. W. Mansfield Country Margins xiii. 181 How do we know that even now, away off millions upon millions of miles distant, some wandering meteor in outer space is not on its way to knock this our planet into a universal smash?
a1868 B. Harte Miracle of Padre Junipero in Poems (1871) 107 Faltering, staggering, feeble and slow,—Out from the desert's blinding heat The Padre dropped at the heathen's feet... They touched alternate with foot and hand This mortal waif, that the outer space Of dim mysterious sky and sand Flung..Down on their barren, sterile strand.
1879 A. Geikie Geol. Sketches (1882) xiii. 323 Mud gathers on the floor of these abysses [of the ocean]..so slowly that the very star-dust which falls from outer space forms an appreciable part of it.
1901 H. G. Wells First Men in Moon iii. 45 After all, to go into outer space is not so much worse, if at all, than a polar expedition.
1935 Discovery Apr. 105/1 In America it was proposed to explore Mars or Venus or even the very realms of outer space.
1958 Times 25 Mar. 9/4 The debonair Lord X..on a dance floor in Mayfair, has simply not the time to ask, ‘May I have the pleasure?’ when, from outer space, the lovely Miss Y is suddenly flung into his orbit.
1973 Times 4 Dec. 8/4 Pioneer should be able..to send pictures of Jupiter..as it goes past it before flying away into outer space.
1992 D. M. Elsom Atmospheric Pollution (BNC) (ed. 2) Some of the energy which would otherwise escape to outer space is trapped within the atmosphere.
2. Hyperbolically or humorously, chiefly in from outer space: outlandish, monstrous, inhuman, weird.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > irregularity > unconformity > abnormality > abnormal [phrase]
like nothing on earth1861
from outer space1961
clockwork orange1963
1961 P. G. Wodehouse Ice in Bedroom xxiii. 191 Every time I see this little horror from outer space, I want to sock him.
1972 ‘H. Calvin’ Take Two Popes xii. 135 If your job says expend somebody, you expend... Do you think I'm an inhuman thing from outer space?
1988 L. Colwin Home Cooking xxii. 144 I had promised him a swell dessert and here was this weird, inedible sludge from outer space.
1998 K. Lette Altar Ego xxviii. 246 Issues invariably arise—gynaecological thigh abductors, the Haircut From Outer Space, goats' milk, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1842